The present invention relates to a mineral winning machine and particularly, but not solely, to coal ploughs.
It is known to construct a coal plough with adjustable tool carriers or holders and various designs have been employed in the art.
The adjustment of the carriers may involve a pivoting action effected by the engagement of the coal face or effected by adjusting devices mounted on the plough structure itself. It is also known to supply water to spray nozzles on a coal plough to suppress dust. For this purpose a trailing hose accommodated in a trough carrier by a longwall conveyor can be used to supply the water. It has been proposed to utilize this water supply to effect adjustment or other operations of the plough -- see for example, German patent specification No. 2254774. However, the use of low pressure of the water supply for the nozzles necessitates unduly large control components. To overcome this problem it has also been proposed to provide the plough with a high-pressure pump and drive motor but the resulting construction is subject to corrosion problems and any fluctuation in the low pressure water supply can adversely affect the operation of the plough.
A general object of the present invention is to provide an improved form of plough.